US Patent Issued to Howard Hughes Medical Institute on March 11 for "Modified ligand-gated ion channels and methods of use" (Maryland Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,247,064, issued on March 11, was assigned to Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Chevy Chase, Md.).

"Modified ligand-gated ion channels and methods of use" was invented by Scott Sternson (Chevy Chase, Md.), Peter Lee (Chevy Chase, Md.) and Christopher Magnus (Chevy Chase, Md.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "This document relates to materials and methods for modulating ligand gated ion channel (LGIC) activity. For example, modified LGICs including at least one LGIC subunit having a modified ligand binding domain (LBD) and/or a modified ion pore domain (IPD) are provided. Also provided are exogenous LGIC ligands that can bind to and activate ...